Who is a Conspiracy Theorist?
(2023) In Social Epistemology 37(4). p.454-463- Abstract
- The simplest and most natural definition of the term ‘conspiracy theory’ leads us to the conclusion that we are all conspiracy theorists. Yet, I claim that most of us would not self-identify as such. In this paper I call this the problem of self-identification. Since virtually everyone emerges as a conspiracy theorist, the term is essentially theoretically fruitless. It would be like defining intelligence in a way that makes everyone intelligent. This raises the problem for theoretical fruitfulness, i.e. the problem of how to define the concept in a theoretically fruitful way. I suggest that these problems are currently causing confusion in the literature and present us with a dilemma, the conspiracy definition dilemma. I will present an... (More)
- The simplest and most natural definition of the term ‘conspiracy theory’ leads us to the conclusion that we are all conspiracy theorists. Yet, I claim that most of us would not self-identify as such. In this paper I call this the problem of self-identification. Since virtually everyone emerges as a conspiracy theorist, the term is essentially theoretically fruitless. It would be like defining intelligence in a way that makes everyone intelligent. This raises the problem for theoretical fruitfulness, i.e. the problem of how to define the concept in a theoretically fruitful way. I suggest that these problems are currently causing confusion in the literature and present us with a dilemma, the conspiracy definition dilemma. I will present an analysis of the literature and what are on my reconstruction the solutions on offer, and argue that none is satisfactory. Either a) the solution will solve the problem of self-identification or b) it will potentially provide a theoretical fruitful definition, but no account does both. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1a6b2704-ef46-452f-a07d-bc03da7c3fcd
- author
- Tsapos, Melina LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Conspiracy theory, conspiracy theorists, explication, conceptual engineering
- in
- Social Epistemology
- volume
- 37
- issue
- 4
- pages
- 10 pages
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85148609682
- ISSN
- 0269-1728
- DOI
- 10.1080/02691728.2023.2172695
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 1a6b2704-ef46-452f-a07d-bc03da7c3fcd
- date added to LUP
- 2023-01-05 09:31:19
- date last changed
- 2023-10-26 14:54:36
@article{1a6b2704-ef46-452f-a07d-bc03da7c3fcd,
abstract = {{The simplest and most natural definition of the term ‘conspiracy theory’ leads us to the conclusion that we are all conspiracy theorists. Yet, I claim that most of us would not self-identify as such. In this paper I call this the problem of self-identification. Since virtually everyone emerges as a conspiracy theorist, the term is essentially theoretically fruitless. It would be like defining intelligence in a way that makes everyone intelligent. This raises the problem for theoretical fruitfulness, i.e. the problem of how to define the concept in a theoretically fruitful way. I suggest that these problems are currently causing confusion in the literature and present us with a dilemma, the conspiracy definition dilemma. I will present an analysis of the literature and what are on my reconstruction the solutions on offer, and argue that none is satisfactory. Either a) the solution will solve the problem of self-identification or b) it will potentially provide a theoretical fruitful definition, but no account does both.}},
author = {{Tsapos, Melina}},
issn = {{0269-1728}},
keywords = {{Conspiracy theory; conspiracy theorists; explication; conceptual engineering}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{4}},
pages = {{454--463}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
series = {{Social Epistemology}},
title = {{Who is a Conspiracy Theorist?}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2023.2172695}},
doi = {{10.1080/02691728.2023.2172695}},
volume = {{37}},
year = {{2023}},
}